What We've Done

AmeriCorps, the National Civilian Community Corps started by President Clinton, offers 75,000 opportunities for adults of all ages and backgrounds to serve their country through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups. AmeriCorps members address critical needs in communities all across America.

For example, AmeriCorps members:

• Tutor and mentor disadvantaged youth
• Fight illiteracy
• Improve health services
• Build affordable housing
• Teach computer skills
• Clean parks and streams
• Manage or operate after-school programs
• Help communities respond to disasters
• Build organizational capacity

This year AmeriCorps will provide more than 320 Vermont citizens the opportunity to provide service in communities across Vermont. And before they embark on their year long assignments, AmeriCorps volunteers spend a day at High 5. For the fifth consecutive year, we have been privileged to work with this fine group of adults.

Our day consists of a variety of activities designed to help the group make friendships, discover commonalities and differences and form a bond that will last throughout their tenure as AmeriCorps volunteers. This day has become one of the highlights of our fall season as it is a day rich in meaning and purpose and leaves both the AmeriCorps volunteers and the High 5 staff with a great sense of pride and satisfaction.

The Alaska National Guard sought us out from far away to help them incorporate a challenge course into their Drug Demand Reduction Program at Camp Carroll near Anchorage, Alaska. Part of the various community outreach programs they run are Camp E3 (Encounter - Encourage - Experience), a free, four day-day camp focused on key components of the 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents.

Specific components such as communication, responsibility, accountability, risk assessment, conflict resolution, self-esteem and resistance skills towards negative peer behavior are the end goals of daily instruction. They determined that a challenge course was a logical next step in offering the ultimate in personal challenge and group development.

In 2006 our building team built them a state-of-the-art course on utility poles, and we began training their staff. Since then, the DDR staff--a unique and dedicated group who are committed to their mission--bring us to their site to inspect and improve the course, and to continue the development of their adventuring skills. They also send members to our open-enrollment training here in Vermont and to industry gatherings such as the ACCT Annual Conference.

Their facilitators keep in close and regular touch with our team to seek advice, expand their skills and also to share their experiences. They do not limit their adventure education and challenge course skills to Camp E3; they also apply their training to many other programs:

Why would one of the world's largest producers of lip balm want the services of High 5?

Because the changing world of their business was requiring their R & D team to re-define their relationship with their customers and that meant re-defining their relationship with each other.

High 5 specializes in developing those skills critical to a successful team effort: cooperation, trust, effective communication, commitment and leadership.

Through adventure education and shared observations, participants gain a greater awareness of the group process, and learn skills that, when transferred back to the office, can promote healthier relationships both internally and externally.

For the past four years, High 5 has been working with Autumn Harp's R & D team to accomplish these goals and according to Human Resources Director Joyce Diciano, the R & D team has become a leader throughout the company.

"I first heard about High 5 when I was attending a Governor's Leadership Retreat for small businesses. A friend who was also attending, highly recommended High 5 to assist me with the internal development of our R & D group. She insisted that there was no one better at developing a sense of team than the people at High 5. After four years of experiencing their skills and expertise, I wholeheartedly agree, there is no one better. They have succeeded in changing the culture of our R & D team and our company."

The Leadership School has become an educational force in the State of Maine, and High 5 has been there with them every step of the way. Since 1981, the award-winning Leadership School at Kieve has been developing leaders and strengthening communities by challenging students, teachers, and parents to think in a new way when it comes to the growth and development of Maine's citizens.

The Leadership School and its camp siblings - Camp Kieve for Boys and Wavus Camp for Girls - use a variety of High 5 services:

• All challenge course staff goes through High 5's Adventure Basics training, and some go on to take advanced and management courses. High 5 often travels to work with Kieve staff on their own course and sometimes individuals enroll in our open enrollment trainings to further their training skills. The staffs' skills are practiced and reviewed often through internal trainings, and annually by High 5.
• The Challenge Course Construction Team inspects the courses annually, repairs as necessary, provide consultation for new projects and additions, and - like we do for all of our customers - keeps them advised of standards and updates in the industry. Most recently we installed a state-of-the-art challenge course in the newly constructed Buck Center, built specifically to house an indoor climbing wall and challenge course.
• Each year Kieve sends a large contingent of their staff to our Annual Practioners Symposium in February. It's a high-energy day of engaging and informative workshops, new ideas and joyous fun. Kieve staffers return to their program reenergized with new games, initiatives, tips and tricks.

For over ten years the LaSalle School for Boys has been conducting an adventure education program for its students. Developed through the efforts of Brother James Martino and Astrid Pettersen, the program for middle school through high school students has been a key part of their living skills program.

The LaSalle School is dedicated to helping young people who have been in trouble and have had to leave their regular school setting. The goal at LaSalle is to provide a temporary educational setting that allows students to succeed socially and then transition back to their regular school.

The adventure program at LaSalle is a valuable part of the educational experience for students. It began years ago with the training of various staff members and the purchase of a minimal amount of equipment (game bags, etc.) to initiate adventure education via the living skills program. The challenge course elements were installed in a very old gymnasium and the program began on a very small scale. Some years later, with the construction of a new physical education facility, the challenge course was greatly expanded and the LaSalle adventure program took on new life. LaSalle School is a good example of an adventure program that began with the efforts of a few dedicated people, started small and has expanded thoughtfully over time.

The Rhode Island National Guard has developed a program for young people with funding from the National Drug Demand Reduction Act, that brings students 12-14 years of age to the Coventry Air National Guard Station in Coventry, RI.

During their 5-day program, students take part in a leadership development & life skills program conducted by members of the RI National Guard.

A large portion of the program is experientially based and utilizes the challenge course built by High 5. Over twenty-five National Guard members were trained as facilitators of the adventure program, which included games, initiatives and low and high challenge course activities. The National Guard also invited members of the Warwick, RI police department to participate in the training. Warwick police officers serve as additional facilitators for the National Guard program and have also brought the program back to their town of Warwick.

For the past nine years High 5 has collaborated with the School for International Training (SIT) through their Youth Peace Building and Leadership Programs. Participants come from countries around the world that are in conflict and war, including; Protestants and Catholics from Northern Ireland, Jews and Arabs from Israel and Palestine, Bosnians and Serbians, Turkish and Greek Cypriots, and Sunnis and Shiites from Iraq.

These student exchanges provide these visiting young people with a deep and meaningful introduction to American life, culture, and institutions. Through hands-on, interactive experience, students learn to communicate across cultures and develop critical thinking and leadership skills that will last a lifetime.

A key component of their experience during the program is their experience at High 5, to "put into action" all the skills they have been learning in the program. Students are placed in mixed groups comprised of half of their own culture and half from the other. Throughout the program they engage in a variety of experiential education and challenge course activities designed to accentuate positive communication and cooperation.

The energy, enthusiasm and care for one another that becomes a part of this experience is truly heartwarming. Following are excerpts from a letter written to our director:

For the past eight years the public schools of Bridgeport, Connecticut have been the site of the largest implementation of High 5 programs in our organization's nine year history.

What began in 2002 with a Carol M. White Physical Education Grant (PEP) from the US Department of Education has blossomed into a city wide program involving nineteen schools, fifty five teachers and thousands of students. The program incorporates a High 5 adventure education program into the physical education curriculum.

To date, approximately 250 K-12 physical education classes (over 12,500 students) participated in this program. Over the past several years, the district wide program has been coordinated by a group of teachers who have volunteered to serve as a management team. For the 2008-09 school year, one teacher has been given a day a week to coordinate the efforts of this team and to provide assistance to various schools for curriculum development and the training of teachers.

One of the more gratifying comments by a PE teacher K-8: "I just wanted to tell you that I did River Crossing for two days last week with every class that came in. Just as I was leaving school that second day, I was talking to a colleague about how things were going and I heard myself say that these past two days were probably the two best days that I ever had as a PE teacher in my 3 years so far. Its hard to really tell you how satisfying it was to witness the chaos, the risks, the failures, the small gains, the passionate discussions, the cooperation and team-building, and finally...the success of accomplishment. They loved it, I loved it. I think you guys are on to something here.

High 5's work with the Bridgeport School System is an example of successful adventure education programming in an urban setting. The City of Bridgeport and High 5 are very proud of our seven year partnership to bring adventure education to Bridgeport's young people and their teachers. An evaluation of the program was completed in Dec. 2004, and below are some responses to a variety of questions about changes they have observed in their students, their classes and themselves.

Are there moments in your classroom using adventure activities that stand out for you?

• Anytime that we have done problem solving activities and the students have reached for a solution, I find their excitement very gratifying.
• When students say they cannot do it, and then are able to complete a task.
• When a student who is usually a pain becomes a leader.
• When students who don't participate actually get involved in activities

What specific changes have you seen in your classroom?

• The students are beginning to problem solve better and especially listen to each other better during the process. They are accepting more responsibility for each other.
• Students willing to huddle up and implement a new plan.
• Students thinking before they act.
• Students seem more excited with new activities

Do you think there is any change in the way students perceive themselves? If so how?

• Out of 45 participating I have seen a very distinct change in them in regards to their ability to talk, share and take charge.
• All students now have a chance to start at ground level and know all must be utilized in activities.
• They seem to be more cognizante of others and how others view them.
• Yes the shy kids seem to be more comfortable.

Do you have any information about what is happening in your classroom that you would like to share? For example- pictures, journal statements, quotes, drawings, comments from other teachers, successes?

• I have been using journals with all the participating students, some of the quotes I remember are: "I hated PE but this stuff I love; I hope we never play basketball again" and "I didn't use to trust but now I am starting to."
• Teachers have come to watch their classes on the low wall. Pictures were taken and put on the Longfellow website along with information on what adventure learning is about.
• We have a fifth grade teacher who has a very difficult class since we implemented the high 5 strategies with them she has learned to have more control of her classroom.

High 5 has been very successful at building long term relationships and providing ongoing programming for local youth year after year.

Our programs in Hinsdale are an example of providing a variety of services to create a comprehensive program that permeates through the entire school community.

Components of this program include:

• Classroom adventure. Our facilitators work in the classrooms to incorporate adventure learning theory and style into traditional classroom curricula, working directly with students as well as mentoring teachers to use these methods in an ongoing and permanent way.


• Student Leadership Program. High school students are taught how to facilitate adventure games and activities. Participants of this program go on to facilitate community building activities to students in the elementary school.


• Challenge course experiences. Every high school student is given the opportunity to spend several teambuilding days on High 5's challenge course.


• Summer Institute. This week-long summer "camp" prepares students to become peer leaders for the following school year, nurturing skills in those students who have started emerging as leaders. Students build on the skills learned in the Student Leadership Program and also develop important technical safety skills that are essential to facilitating on the challenge course and other adventure activities.

Teachers and parents reported that students involved in these High 5 programs demonstrated significant changes, including:

• Improved sense of community and "school spirit"
• Increased positive self image/perception
• Increased sense of responsibility and caring for others
• Improve planning and organizational skills
• Improved communication and public speaking skills.

Following are excerpts from letters written by graduating students to their peers and our staff:

"I have really enjoyed my High 5 experiences. I believe that if we hadn't been given the chance for such a great opportunity we'd all still be as prickly as cacti. I loved every minute of our time working together and will NEVER forget what we went through and shared. Thank you so much Jen for all the hard work you have done with and for us through the years. I can't even express my gratitude, my heart seems full to burst with pride at what you helped us accomplish."